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In response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion into Ukraine, Joe Biden recently told reporters, “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”
When confronted with this fact, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki desperately scrambled to provide an explanation. “That’s not exactly what he meant,” Psaki claimed weakly.
So, what does Biden mean? It appears that no one really knows. Even Psaki herself doesn’t know as she constantly contradicts herself.
DOOCY: “You guys will sit here and sanction Vladimir Putin, and then send diplomats to go sit on the same side of the table with the Russians to hash out the Iran deal?”
PSAKI: “That’s right, Peter, but I don’t know why you sound so skeptical…”pic.twitter.com/JB02rfJzKo
— Suburban Black Man 🇺🇸 (@goodblackdude) February 25, 2022
The Biden White House has spun a web of lies. Americans were told that sanctions against Russia have “merit” and will act as a “deterrent” by preventing Russia from invading Ukraine.
It was all a lie. Following Russia’s all-out invasion into Ukraine, Joe Biden made a stunning statement that admitted “no one expected” sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its incursions into Ukraine to “prevent anything from happening.”
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening,” Biden said. This comment comes in stark contrast from what Americans were told repeatedly by the White House as well as Biden’s own vice president. Here’s a closer look at the lies:
Before the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia, Vice President Kamala Harris announced, “The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.”
“And the Allied relationship is such that we have agreed that the deterrence effect of these sanctions is still a meaningful one,” she continued.
“We still sincerely hope that there is a diplomatic path out of this moment,” she said. “And within the context then of the fact that that window is still open although it is absolutely narrowing — but within the context of a diplomatic path still being open, the deterrence effect, we believe, has merit.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also said the goal of the sanctions is to “deter and prevent” a Russian invasion. She was even asked by a reporter whether it would be considered a failure in strategy if the sanctions failed to prevent an invasion.
“Yes, deterrence is part of our objective,” she responded. “If he goes further, we will go further. We have a range of tools at our disposal.”
“I mentioned some of the potential financial… steps we could take that could impact financial institutions,” Psaki said. “That is very significant and could have a very significant impact, but we have far more options beyond that, including export controls.”
Prior to the invasion, another senior White House administration official also described the aim of sanctions by saying, “They’re not an end to themselves. Sanctions are meant to serve a higher purpose, which is to deter and prevent.”
“So, we want to prevent a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that involves the seizure of major cities, including Kyiv,” the official explained.
“We want to prevent large-scale human suffering, possibly tens of thousands of lives that could be lost in a full-scale conflict. And we want to prevent Putin from installing a puppet government that bends to his wishes and denies Ukraine the freedom to set its own course and choose its own destiny,” he said. “That’s what this is all about.”
Biden stopped short of sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. He did not announce a ban on Russia from the SWIFT banking system, saying Europe is not on board with such a move.
Biden announced 7,000 more service members are being sent to Germany, but maintained that the U.S. military will not fight in Ukraine.
